Not What You Think They Want or What They Say That Want

What I think that I want and what I really want sometimes is very different.

What you think that I want, is different with what I really want.

This happens if you don’t know the core of my needs.

This is a true problem for small-business owners, entrepreneurs and especially marketers.

If I went in the coffee shop to drink a cup of coffee, I didn’t go there because of coffee, although in some cases the coffee quality can be a reason. However, I can go to drink a coffee everywhere around me. I can go to drink a coffee with my friends. I can drink a coffee in my home or in my office. But, the real reason because I go in the coffee shop is to escape the daily routine and see with peoples with which I want to see and make a conversation.

If we take a clothe as another example, we cannot say that we need the cloth because it is inappropriate to go naked. Probably, it is one and most basically reason. However, we didn’t use that reason today, and we don’t buy clothes because of that reason. We want and need clothes that will look great on our body. Sometimes we want something fashioned. Sometimes we buy some type of clothes because it will show our personality in a greater way.

As you can see from this two examples, there are much more customers needs than only one.

Sometimes the real needs even don’t exist, and your job is to create them if you want your business to succeed.

Stop, for the moment, and start thinking about all of your products. What are the needs that they satisfy for your customers?

Now, let’s go to one by one with the tips that can help you to brainstorm as much as possible different needs that your current or potential customers have:

Start with their public saying about what they want.
Make a list about their public wants.
Try to be at their mind. What you will want then?
Continue with your thinking about what they want.
Make a questionnaire and ask them what they really want.
Analyze their answer and go much deeper to find all possible hidden needs.
Talk with them about their biggest frustrations and dreams. There you can find many hidden real needs.
Ask your sales team about their experience with your customers.
Make a list of their hidden needs that you find from questionnaires, your direct conversation, and your sales team.
Study the list that you have from this exercise, and prioritize their needs.
Implement the findings into your products and services, but be sure that implementation goes according to the priorities.